Some more pictures.

So I figure it being basically the end of 2010 I'd put up some pictures from various places and times of my exchange up until now. Enjoy? :)

Some Pictures...

Christmas...

So... wow. I really haven't posted in here in a while... Well here it is now. It has been roughly four months since I came here. On one hand, I think back to August and it seems like a ridiculously long time ago and all the things I've done, and all the ways that I've grown in four months is rather impressive to think back on. However, on the other hand I'm not entirely sure where the time keeps going. There is only 6 months left of this amazing experience and then it's over and I will be left with the memories of what once was the most amazing year of my entire life. Depressing much?

Anyways... I'm on Christmas break now. My friend Samantha and I are currently sharing my room and I will be moving to her house in Budapest on January 19th. This is both a good and an unfortunate thing. On one hand, I will be living in the city so I can hang out with my friends, pick up a few extracurricular activities during the week, and of course possibly the best part, I won't have to wake up at 5:30 every morning. I'm very excited about that. However, I am going to miss the Rostas Family a lot. Like, tremendously. Mostly because they remind me of my own family in the random bursts of singing and dancing, lots of children, and just the overall feeling of home here... but this experience is all about change right? Right.

So yeah, Christmas break so far has been fun. Sam and I spent a few days at my host grandmothers flat in Budapest hanging out with friends, Christmas shopping, Rotary gatherings, etc. Budapest in December isn't what I would have expected it to be during the holidays but that is probably due to some outside factor that I'm simply too ignorant to realize. (Hungarian Christmas isn't really commercialized like it is back home which in a way I kind of like.) That and the fact that I'm not in Ukiah going through all of the traditional Christmas "isms"

***Warning Tangent Ahead*** Like going to Missy's Ranch in Hopland for a tree, helping carry firewood to the shed, freezing inside the house while watching Kyle try to start a fire in the fireplace, the smell of Teran cookies in the oven, random friends hanging around the kitchen waiting for said cookies, (well actually that happens year-round), going to San Francisco for Christmas shopping, studying at Starbucks for finals, hiding in a blanket reading, listening to Bing Crosby sing Christmas carols in the Loudre Room, the MTA's Christmas Trolley, and then of course Christmas Eve Children’s Mass, new Christmas pajamas, Empanaditas de Navidad, Christmas morning, seeing family, eating candy canes, looking through the Fence of that one park near Highway 17 near Los Gatos saying that one year we're going to go in and look at all the amazing light designs, Day After Christmas Gift Card shopping with my sisters, etc. You get the idea.
****
Sorry, back to my point. Because none of these things happened this year it simply doesn't feel like Christmas. There are paper jack-o-lanterns hanging from the ceiling and it is tradition not to get your tree until Christmas Eve. (Which is tomorrow yay) Also on Christmas Eve, the children go out for a walk with their Grandparents and Jesus comes to bring presents and put up the tree. How you tell your kid that like Santa Claus, Jesus doesn't exist? There has been snow, (as many of you have probably seen/heard about on the news) but I've never had snow on Christmas therefore, I don't associate it with Christmas or even New Years really. Maybe Ski Week in February. Maybe. The snow has been interesting though. I've gotten relatively used to walking around in below freezing temperatures and wearing gloves whenever I go outside. Probably the best part of this holiday season has been experiencing different Hungarian traditions and being a part of them. I am happy to say that I have more chocolate than I really know what to do with and traditional Hungarian Christmas food is amazing. On Tuesday night Sam and I were invited to a Rotarian's house to help make a Hungarian dinner with our Youth Exchange Officer Szilvia, Kristof (a rebound who exchanged in Michigan), a Rotaract member who I recognized from my presentation, and the host's two sons (I'm terrible with names). It was a lovely evening with good food, good friends, and overall a lovely atmosphere.

So yeah, as this break continues I'm sure I'll have more to write and hopefully more frequently. Not that things haven't been interesting in the past few weeks, it just takes a lot of effort to compile it all into something worth reading.

Hope You're Having a Lovely Winter Season where ever you are.

Feliz Navidad, Boldog Karácsonyt, Merry Christmas.

♥

Snow...

is really really cold and terrible and just really not pleasant at all. In fact despite its awesome-ness, it is far more trouble than it's really worth. Therefore, I never wish to have to live in it again. I'm glad I figured this out early in life so I don't find my self living in Alaska some cold day in the future. Global Warming my apse. (which for all of you who didn't know an apse is a semicircular or polygonal termination or recess in a building, usually vaulted and used esp. at the end of a choir in a church, not just a nice way of not saying ass. So there. You've just been EDUCATED!) That is all I have to say on this topic until further notice.

****

Anyways...

Being an exchange student is freaking weird. Really, my opinions and views are changing I'm realizing things I wouldn't have realized had I spent this year back in the States. This time last year I had no idea I would be going to Hungary. I knew, or at least hoped, I would be going abroad but if you had put last year's Ukiahi me in Exchange student me's place, I wouldn't believe this was really my life,. Did that make sense? I feel like it didn't but it should. In essence, I am incredibly grateful for this honor that has been bestowed upon me. Because it has been about a year since that first application I felt the need to say Thank You Thank You Köszönöm Szepen to everyone who has made this year turn out the way it has. This isn't even the end of my exchange. Statistically its not really even the middle. Either way, a year has gone by since I got myself into this mess and I am thankful.

****

I have found a norm here I have an amazing family and friends. There is a family who lives in the flat above my host grandma who are amazing. The father is from California and knows where Ukiah is as he lived in Los Angeles. They remind me of traditional (Northern) California neighbors. That is to say warm, welcoming, and incredibly friendly. (I say Northern California simply because we tend to trust our neighbors more than say our Southern population. [I feel like population isn't the right word but you get the idea]). I hope to hear more from them.

Sorry.. tangent. But the point is, I have found a norm, a life really. The fact that I have to move to another family, one that is even farther away from school than the family I am at right now while the other exchange students have the privilege of living in the city is simply not fair. When did we draw straws and if so, why didn't anyone tell me I was drawing the short one? Never have I not wanted to move from home more than I do (or don't rather) now. The family I'm in reminds me of my own. Everything from the random singing and dancing to the way my host siblings interact with each other. Words simply cannot describe how happy I am here.


I think this is an appropriate enough update. With this I bid you good day.

Szia
♥

Finally Posting...

So... I haven't posted in a while simply because I didn't feel like it. Simple as that. The past 2 weeks have been lovely I love having a routine and a relatively comfortable,simple, new life. Thanksgiving was on Thursday. There are 5 American exchange students in Budapest so, being the awesome people that we are (5Americans and Aryane our lovely Brazilian), we got permission to skip school in order to properly celebrate this important American holiday. [Which contrary to popular belief of the rest of the world, it is not an American excuse to stuff ourselves with food. Well, I take that back because it probably is for someone out there... But not for the vast majority of people I've gotten know throughout my life...] We went to SPAR and bought everything we needed thanks to Carleighs overly organized list and then carried it all (slightly over $150 and 70+ pounds) back to the apartment. Together we made mashed potatoes, apple pie, stuffing, 5 different desserts, beans and rice, mac and cheese corn pudding, gravy, cranberry fruit salad, mixed vegetables, and yeah, lots of food. That we made all more or less from scratch. I didn't know any of us could cook and everything came out amazingly (Sophia and Collin's Chicken was by far the best thing I've ever tasted) we also made hand turkey's and a skit to show Carleigh's host family what Thanksgiving is all about. It was fun to see everyones Thanksgiving traditions simply because they differ so much.

So yeah, at about 6:30 we all sat down around a table loaded with the fruits of our labor and gave thanks as a new sort of family.

That was Thursday however today.....

ITS SNOWING!!!

This morning I woke up and remembered that I had horse riding (which due to weather condition I didn't end up going to) and so I checked the time on my computer which led me to facebook which led me to look at all of the exchange students statusés which all were freaking out about snow. There is a curtain on the lower part of my window so I didn't see it when I woke up so I went into the living space in the house and YES SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW! So I threw on some warm stuff and ran outside.But snow is cold so I was out there for like 45 minutes of snow balls and snow men before going inside and curling up in Yoga pants and a robe with some hot apple pie. Which is when I figured I should probably update this blog before my mom starts asking about it again.... so here you go :)

P.S. I'm curious as to who reads my blog. So drop me a comment! I want to know who you are. :)

Whats the point of a title anyways...?

Hello all. Here's your weekly update.

I can't believe that 2 and a half months have already gone by though on the same token it seems like its beens an eternity since I left Ukiah back in August. Exchange student time simply makes no sense. So as of right now I'm going to stop counting the days (this is most likely a total lie) that I've been here and just enjoy it. Things here are fantastic, I really couldn't be happier. I have an amazing family, good friends, and an great Rotary Club. Which brings me to my next point... I will no longer be transferring to Esztergom for school. This is for multiple reasons but primarily because 1. I don't want to pay 50 dollars a month to sit in a classroom doing next to nothing (I do that already in Budapest but without tuition)2. I've finally made Hungarian friends at Csik Ferenc, 3.it's easier to attend Rotary meetings if I go to school in Budapest, and 4. last but not least I have finally gotten accustomed to Csik Ferenc and (dare I say it?) I enjoy going to school. I enjoyed going to school back home too but I think you get the idea. So yeah, thats the school update... Sam and I started going to the lunch meetings for Rotary, thats really enjoyable...

Last Friday night was the Freshman's Ball. All last week the upperclassmen created tasks for the freshman to do (PE lesson in public, etc) and then on Friday they had a ball where the 2 freshman classes had to compete against each other in similar random tasks. The winner of the night gets to host next year's Freshman ball and gets the pride of being the best and all that jazz. The other exchange students and I had to open the ball by giving a speech....in Hungarian. We each had 3-5 sentences each and I think (hope?) that went reasonably well...

Then on Saturday I made pie and dyed my hair red(ish). My host family doesn't own a pie pan so I had to make do but other than that it came out better than I expected.

So yeah... that was last week in a nutshell... I'm going to Vienna with Rotary on December 3 in case you were curious.

Okay thats all for now.

TTFN
♥

Fall Break.

So this last week was fall break. Which means that this Monday I get to go back to waking up at 5:30 am and gone are the days of sleeping in till 7:30. This week was enjoyable though. On Tuesday I went with my host dad into Budapest and walked around WestEnd by myself for a good 5 hours until meeting up with the other Budapest kids. We walked around the city, and went to SugarShop (as usual) and then Sam and I went to our Rotary meeting at the Kempinski. I can't emphasize enough how much I love the Rotary meetings here. This last Tuesday I met a man from California who has lived in Hungary for the past 4 years. He knew people from Ukiah which was crazy exciting being half a world away and all that jazz. There was also a family from Israel who were really interesting and of course getting my monthly allowance and amazing Kempinski dinner wasn't bad either :) So yeah that was Tuesday. On Wednesday I spent the night in Esztergom at my second host family/Timi's house and that was lovely... I finally watched RENT which is big because I love the musical and know the entire soundtrack but until now I had never seen the movie. So yeah, good deal. On Friday I took the train to Budapest all by myself :D :D :D and met up with Dóri, who was an inbound in Mendocino last year and we went inside of Parliament (on November 5th oh the irony...) which was cool. The stain glass was amazing not only because of its color but for its age and history as well. Most of the windows are over 100 years old and during WWII they were hidden in the parliament's basement while the Royal jewels were taken and hidden in Fort Knox, USA. After Parliament we went to Sugar Shop and then walked around some more. We went to the part of the city where I don't usually go (Hero's Square, the baths, etc) and that was fun... They were redoing the ice rink and apparently as they were redoing it they dug up 2 bombs from WWII. This freaked people out because for over 30 years people had been skating on unexploded bombs. So yeah then I got on a train back to Pilicsaba which would have been great until the sun went down and I couldn't see out the window. Luckily there was a nice lady sitting across from me who knew some English and she told me when to get off. So needless to say I made it home alive. I really like that I can finally call this place home. Right now I'm sitting in the living room and it has the same home-ish feeling as my house back in California does. This is both a good and a bad thing I suppose. It's a good thing because this place is amazing, my family is amazing, and life is pretty much all around amazing. However, it is a bad thing because in the back of my mind I have to tell myself not to get too attached to anything or anyone because in a few months I will have to leave. That's the depressing thing about being an exchange student. That is to say you meet so many amazing people in so many different places but after a few months you have to say goodbye whether you are going home or changing families, goodbyes are inevitable. I hate that. Truly.

So yeah, now my friend Sam from New York (who is staying with me for the weekend) wants to feel special and read this post first. So yeah good deal.

Mucho love and Polar Bears

♥
Katie

Weekly Update?

For some reason I feel obliged to update this at least once I a week, and as it's still Halloween in California for another 17 minutes let me just say. HAPPY HALLOWEEN there, I said it and I'm terribly jealous and we don't have Halloween over here in the rest of the world.

So yeah. This week was... uneventful. I got hit by another bad cold on Wednesday but it hasn't killed me so yay. As of December first I'm transferring to St. Erszebet (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong) school in Esztergom. That's exciting, though I will definitely miss my friends at Csik Ferenc, in the long run it is a better situation as far as classes, and location goes.

I finally started making plans with J (She was in Ukiah on exchange last year for those of you who don't remember her living on my couch) to go visit her in Germany sometime over Easter Break for a week and then taking her back to Budapest with me for a few days. I'm hoping it will work out. Um... yeah thats about it for this last week. This coming week is fall break so I will be spending time with friends and at Rotary meetings. (Rotary meetings are the best, I actually look forward to going to them.) and I'm going bowling today. So yeah good deal. I hope everyone has had a nice Halloween.



Katie
Rabbit. Rabbit.

hopefully next week will give this blog some more interesting content. Sorry for this one. ♥

By popular demand.... or a tip off..

I'm putting up a new post. Because my dearest mother told my dearest sister who told me through twitter. Yeesh talk about direct. You could just skype me MarMar. Kidding. Love.Love. Love Love. Szeretlek. Te Amo. All that good stuff :)

So a new post hmmm.... I have peanut butter... thats exciting right? Sure it is because until like last week I was unaware that peanut butter existed in Hungary. Guess what? It does but as an imported product.

I got a lovely care package from my grandma last friday with fluffy slippers, a robe, some knitting, and food... which brings me to 2 topics

1. The depressing fact that the majority of craveable american foods are prepackaged and only need hot water... (jello, stuffing, koolaid....etc)
2. I made jello for my host family last weekend. Needless to say they loved it. I mean how can you not? It's squishy blobs of amazing...

ooh I took public transportation from school to my host grandma's house ALL BY MYSELF and didn't die. While on the bus to my host grandmas house I even found some people from the US who were studying or backpacking in Hungary which was nifty. It's super weird when I think about how this time last year I would never have been able to go up to a group of complete strangers and strike up a conversation, take public transportation alone, or be able to "speak" Hungarian. Needless to say I am somewhat proud of myself. Watching my own progress is kind of incredible...

I spent Friday night at my friend Vivi's house thats worth blogging about right? Sure it is. T'was quite fun, Agi and Vivi turned me into a smokey eye'd raccoon, we watched movies, and made suti... fun stuff. I'll make a post with pictures soonish...

and yeah. I think thats just about it... I'm happy to say life has finally taken some consistency. Hence the relatively scattered post. My next post will make Ms. Spence proud. I promise ^_^

So yeah. Let me just say Happy Almost Halloween to all my lucky duck Americans

♥

Michael Jackson is hiding in the Cauliflower.

Please disregard the title of this post. I couldn't think of anything to call this post and that was the first thing to pop into my head. The past week has been pretty good. Things have started to calm down and I've got a pretty good schedule. School, home, study hungarian, repeat, Rotary meetings every other Tuesday and hanging out with friends on those Tuesdays and on the weekends.

I shadowed my friend Timi at Szent Erzsébet school. Needless to say I enjoyed it immensely.The people and teachers were super friendly which I really liked because I don't really get much of that atmosphere at Csik Ferenc. Not to mention the school is absolutely gorgeous and a huge Basilica overlooks it with the Duna and Slovakia alongside it. So yeah crazy gorgeous, crazy amazing.

But yeah back to the whole friendly teacher thing... in California I have a really good relationship with the teachers in my school. They smile at students between classes and are generally enjoyable people. Whereas at Csik Ferenc I made the mistake of smiling and saying "Jo Napot"(good day) to a teacher and I was glared at. O.o It kind of took me back seeing as I don't know why anyone would want to become a teacher unless they enjoyed students... and you'd think it would be basic common courtesy to at least acknowledge someone who greets you in the hall ways... I guess not? Who knows...

Not me. Thats who...

So yeah. I'm alive and well and Szent Erzsébet is an amazing school I think is my point of this post.

PS. I still don't understand Butter on sandwiches.

I have a grilled sajt szenvcs. Be jealous.

I just realized that I haven't posted on here in a while. Not because I've been busy... simply because I haven't thought too. Well, no I have... but whatever. The point is I'm writing right? Of courses right. So yeah... RYE went to Venice,Italy last weekend. A lovely 10 hour bus ride there, twelve short hours to explore an amazing city filled with art, culture, and history, and a 10 hour bus ride back. Venice is everything the books, movies, and pictures make it to be and so much more. Miles and miles of little alley ways, shops with everything from perfume to butterfly knives, singing gondola guys, and restaurants with everything from Pizza to pirsciutto and brie sandwhiches. Argh my spelling has gotten so bad >.< I went exploring this amazing city with Ariana (Florida) and Frank (California) we tried to go off the beaten path whenever possible. (not the sketchy unbeaten path, more like the residential unbeaten path) and found some amazing little churches filled with hundreds of years of art work and small squares with apartments surrounding a large well. With not a tourist in sight. Frank and Ari knew their way around Venice pretty well because they are Assasin's Creed fanatics which was super funny and helpful at the same time. For those of you who don't know assasin's creed, its a video game that has used the google maps street view to enhance their game. Ooh on Tuesday Sam and I had our Rotary Presentation, I'd like to think that went reasonably well. It was a presentation on the United States so the fact that I live on the West Coast and Sam on the East I think helped a lot as far as a good presentation goes. There were some Swedish Folk visiting our club too so I had the honor of repeating

Me- "Hi I'm Katie from California'
Them- "is your last name Perry"
Me- "..."

I guess I should count my blessings that they didn't start singing California Girls...

So yeah Venice was amazing, school is going great and my Hungarian is getting better everyday :) I'm so close to actually being able to form sentences! :D

First Month Likes &Dislikes

So... I figure that because I have officially been here for a month (woot woot)and have gotten (for the most part) acclimated to this strange new environment I'dve (is that I word? I feel like it should be... regardless its supposed to be a contraction for I would have) come up with a list of things I like and dislike. This of course will probably end up changing relatively dramatically as my exchange progresses but I figure for the sake of consistency I'll make this a monthly thing simply to watch the progression. A self made guinea pig so speak if that makes any sense. So, enough with the rambling...

Likes :

Public Transportation
Budapest
Túro Rúdi
Making sentences with the little Hungarian that I know
Learning Hungarian
Speaking Engarian
Bread (this is actually quite surprising as in California I ate virtually no bread and now I feel like I'm eating it all the time. Carbs are simply a figment of my new imagination)
Viktor Varga
Waking up at 4:45 AM to skype with my family scattered about in the USA
tights
fizzy water mixed with juice
meeting people
hanging out with the other exchange students
theres probably more but thats all I can think of at this very moment...

Dislikes:

butter in sandwiches
school schedules that keep changing
knowing just enough Hungarian to know when people are talking about me but not enough to know what they're saying
liver
the lack of ice cubes...
my inability to use elevated diction and having to simplify everything. (2 semesters of Ms.Spence are slowing slipping away D:)
thats it I think like I said, I love it here...

Neither like nor dislikes more like an afternote...

so I think of myself to be pretty chill. Coming from California I feel like I'm pretty laid back. I go with the flow. I'm not picky when it comes to food, plans, clothing, weather, etc. I'm usually in a pretty good mood if I'm not you'll notice. People should stop worrying. :)

So yeah. It's been a month. I'm happy to say I haven't gotten homesick yet. If home is where the heart is and your family lives all over the world. (the lovely family of Rotary that is...) then it truly is impossible to feel homesick. :) So yeah, good deal...

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Okay so...

Today school, as my blog shows, epically sucked. Epically. F'reals. But then after school Sam and I went to West End mall and met up with Collin, Carleigh and Sofia and Sam and bought tights, and a sketchbook and other basic things that Ive needed for a while... So that was super fun. Mostly just getting away from school and actually seeing Budapest was super refreshing. and after shopping Sam and I took the Hév to the other side of the city and got lost-ish looking for the hotel the Rotary meeting was in. After walking around in circles and using our mad Hungarian skills to ask for directions we finally found it and had a marvelous dinner... I got to talk to a guy from Verona, Italy which was really cool... I think thats what I love most about my clubs meetings is the fact that there's always someone new or interesting to talk to. So yeah. Good deal. My feet are dead,I'm exhausted and madly in love with the city of Budapest... :)

Good Night...

So....

At this very moment I am crazy freaking frustrated. Hungarian school makes no sense and thats not only because its in Hungarian. Apparently I cut my math class this morning but in my defense the last Tuesday I thought I had math, there was no one there. So, being the smart person that I am I asked Aniko and she said that I didnt have math on tuesday. So today people were asking me why I didnt go to math. Well, I DIDNT KNOW I Had math! and we had a test so poop. Then last period, I was supposed to go to spanish, so I go to the room were supposed to have spanish in but what? Oh yeah, there was no one there. So I go looking for Aniko to tell her that once again, Im hopelessly lost and confused. Shes teaching a class. Great. FabÚlous. So, because I have no idea where my class is, I dont go. Well, I missed another test. So yeah today is turning out to be complete and utter poop. Grrrr. =$ so yeah. At least Im going shopping and to a Rotary meeting tonight... good deal. I miss American school in the sense that we have the SAME 6 classes everyday at the same times in the same place... non of this getting lost and hopelessly confused stuff.

BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

♥

I'm going to Freeze.

Okay so the week was pretty uneventful. I stayed home on Monday and Wednesday because I was sick but I'm better now so no worries. :) Today was really fun. I woke up at like sevenish talked to Balazs over skype and then helped my host mom take down some trash bags. My host mom opened a few bags and then told me to look through them. The bags were full of winter clothing. Like heavy duty stuff. Scarfs, jackets, gloves, and shoes. Oh gosh... the shoes were amazing... I am now the proud borrow-er of 2 pairs of knee high leather heel-ed boots. They're more or less amazing. I'm also borrowing a few nice knit sweaters,snow boots, jackets, and scarfs. Apparently it gets below -5 Farenheit here. That is to say I will turn into an ice cube this winter and not thaw out until I'm back in California's 80-90 degree weather. Like serious permafrosting here... After that I helped peel potatoes and we had lunch. I learned that just because its wrapped in bacon, liver is still liver, and liver is gross. After lunch we drove to Budapest and I saw Charlie St. Cloud with Vivi Agi and their friend who's name I can't remember. It was a super cute movie... the movie theater was really... different in a lot of ways. The biggest being that they don't turn the lights off until like 10 or 15 minutes into the movie. After the movie we walked around and then Krisztina picked me up... On the way back home I read Cat in the Hat and Mr. Mohó. The Cat in the Hat was in English but Mr Moho (greedy) was most definately in Hungarian. Betti helped me with like half of it and understood like 5% of what I was reading still the fact that I understood at least some of it was cool... I felt like I was 5 again and learning to read.... which I am... When we got home my host sisters decided to play dress up the exchange student. (I'll post pictures in a later post. ) after that we watched XFaktor and now here I am blogging on the couch all snuggled up with my host sisters :) Life is good.

Past week...

So... I haven't blogged in a while simply because I've been crazy busy and our first orientation was this weekend. Last week went something like:

Monday- first day of school holy ship. The school is huge and no one speaks English. I find my classes only by following a group of girls I recognize from my homeroom. Can't find the cafeteria. Everyone eats so much bread here how is no one fat??? English class is super fun, helping people with their english is helping with the whole friend thing. Maybe this won't be so bad...

Tuesday- feeling pretty good about school. Arrive at my class. There's no one there. Find the math teacher walking down the hall who speaks basic English.He doesn't have a clue. Find Aniko Honig feeling like a lost cheeseball. Turns out I don't have a first OR second period on Tuesday. Thanks for telling me you stupid timetable you made a better tree than piece of paper... During breaks on of the girls who speaks English tells me that her mother packed me a Pottyos (not spoken at all like its spelled, its like cooked, curdled milk enrobed in chocolate and super amazing) which was super sweet. I still don't understand what my teachers are talking about minus in my language classes, but other than that morning, I don't get lost.

Wednesday- Really good day. I get invited to go hang out and see Charlie St.Cloud, I don't get lost, and I have my first Hungarian Lesson with Aryane (Brazil) Collin (Alaska) and Samantha (New York) super fun. That evening I have to pack because I will spend the night in Buda at my host grandma's house on thursday and then orientation this weekend.

Thursday- wake up, put stuff in car, off to school, school is uneventful that is to say going well same old same old. People eat so much bread here!! I still don't understand it. At host grandmas house which is filled with the smell of cigarettes... ew. :| I work on my hungarian and take a nap which is more like a 3 hour nap but whatever. Homework is sort of pointless here when you don't have the books (Exchange students get them on tuesday) and you can't understand what the teacher is saying...

Friday- wake up and walk to the bus station with Kata,Fanny and their grandfather. I'm walking to school for the first time today. After 2 buses and 3 trams we get to my stop and I walk but the tram station to school which totally wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We had media class today and watched Nasfurato with English subtitles. That's probably the most accomodating teachers have been so I was greatful to actually understand it. :) After school Janos meets me outside and we take the tram to West End mall where I meet up with the other exchange students. Its so fun to meet all the people I've been talking to on facebook for the past few months. Spoke a lot of English with some Hungarian mixed in. It's so nice to finally meet everyone! We get to the hotel and eat dinner, go through orientation and then free time in the hotel for the rest of the night. Lots of pin trading and jolly good fun.

Saturday- breakfast in the hotel, orientation, lunch more orientation. and then Budapest :D we went to Hero's Square and Parliament and the mall just walking around and taking the train, metro, tram, and bus. I love that my student card gets me on all of them for free. Europe is amazing. Alonso is a creeper but Frank (CA) Ariana (FL) Andressa and Caio (Brazil) are my lovely body guards. I love these people to pieces. After Budapest we go up to my room squish all the beds together and Makayla (WA) Sam (NY)Ariana (FL) Carliegh (FL) Collin (AK) Tiago, Caio, Andressa (Brazil) the Japanese students and a few other people all hung out till like midnight eating chocolate and talking. Which was super fun we're what you'd call "the good kids" That is to say we can remember the nights fun...

Sunday- wake up at 5 in the morning with food poisoning. Stupid turkish food. So I call Janos and Krisztina picks me up. So now I'm all cozy in my bed back in Mariahalom with some crackers and tea. Good deal. I have the option to stay home from school tomorrow but because it's Collin's birthday and we're making plans and doing stuff I think I'll tough it out. Which is definately a first. Really goes to show you how amazing things are going I guess...

So yeah. Good deal.

♥

Saijt.Cheese Donuts.Budapestíng...

Hello world and all who inhabit the internet... Hungarian in possibly the craziest but most enjoyable language I've ever come across. Every "R"is rolled and letters go every which way turning my brain into a pretzel. But a nice pretzel. Am I making any sense? I feel like I'm not but whatever. I went to Budapest today which was really cool. The city is beautiful but at times it feels as if I am being suffocated by the city itself which is kind of overwhelming. But like I said, no complaints, it is beautiful in its own way. I saw my school and saw the public transportation system available to me. Public transportation is crazy amazing here. Nothing like in California. I had Hungarian ice cream today which was freaking amazing (nagyon finom[verytasty])and talked to Balazs over skype. I swear, it feels so nice to have a conversation in English after so much Hungarian. Like, I love listening and learning Hungarian don't get me wrong but when you can only say a few words in Hungarian and you say those words as much as you can while trying to learn new ones, speaking English is like a glass of ice water. Speaking of drinks... I'm thirsty... speaking of being thirsty... I miss milk. A lot. I crave it all the time now... I drink a lot of water which I weird because in California I drank milk all the time... so interesting changes.

So yeah... good deal...

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Pictures :)

CooCooCaju

Well hello there world. I feel like I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing... I feel like I should be in school already. I've been out of school since the beginning of June and the Nerd in me really needs to go back for her own sanity...The past couple days have been really good. I went to a Rotary meeting on Tuesday where I met my Youth Exchange Officer, the other American RYExchangeStudent, some Rotarians visiting from Portugal, and a girl from Minnesota who is doing her second masters on human rights in Budapest. My club is very small compared to the Ukiah Rotary Clubs but they seem well organized. Meanwhile back in Mariahalom I've been slowly but surely picking up Hungarian. Last night I played some random mouse game and I now know how to say Red, Green, Yellow and blue (piros,zöld,sárga and kek.) we also played monopoly which is really hard when you can't read the cards... That brings me to my next tangent. I finally realized how scary illiteracy is. To not be able to understand what is going on around you, to not be able to communicate truly is terrifying. You rely on others far more than might otherwise be safe. The Russians were geniuses. That is not to say that I do not feel safe here or anything like that but it is an interesting idea... world domination and all that jazz... Luckily I have my trusty Hungarian-English dictionary which we are always using. Oh yeah, I met Fanni (another host sister) and my host grandma today too... she is super nice and an amazing cook. So yeah... I'm still alive,having fun and all that jazz...

♥

Brillo con la luz de promesa nunca se apagaran.

Finally in Hungary

Well, I'm here. My flights were very smooth though 9 hours is a crazy long time to be on a plane. No complaints there though because I ended up next to a very nice British woman coincidentally also named Katie. However, once I got to London I was super confused because I thought I only had one boarding pass (turns out the guy at the desk had put my other one in the folder thing) so I'm running around the airport trying to find where my flight connects and all that jazz and finally I get to the terminals and I don't know where my gate is (it wasn't printed on my ticket) and people keep telling me to look at the screens. Well, the screens don't tell you where the gate is. So here I am half asleep trying to figure out the time and where the heck my gate is. I finally find it and get on and all that jazz. I must have been tired though because I honestly don't remember falling asleep. Just getting on the plane and waiting for it to take off. Then waking up to see that we were flying over Berlin. woot. So finally off the plane and I find another guy in his lovely Rotary Blazer who is the Alaskan Student, Collin. We pick up our luggage and go out to find out families. Within 5 seconds of looking around I see my Host family, Uncle Janos, Kata, Betti, Krisztina, and Zoltan. Kata, who is starting first grade tomorrow immediately grabs my small rolling suitcase and happily prances away. When we go out the the car I meet my host brother, Adam who is freakishly tall. My entire family is all very long and lanky by the way... It is about an hours drive to Mariahalom on the drive there I show Betti and Kata those magnets that I've been playing with for the past week and like everyone else spend hours playing with them (haha) and Kata showed my how she could sing "This is Me."from camp rock. She was actually really good especially seeing as she doesn't speak a word of english. We finally get to the house (which is gorgeous) and Janos's wife (who I can't remember the name of) is there. I get the grand tour of the house and we go over basic things and I am shown my room. It is a small room but very cozy and beautiful. Kata and Betti had taken on the task of labeling everything from the wall to the lamp with its Hungarian name which was super cute so now there's sticky notes covering my room. I unpack and we eat dinner. Krisztina had made traditional goulash which was delicious and Betti made banana bread for dessert. After dinner I excuse myself and go to bed as I was exhausted.

Today I woke up at 8 ish (11pm PST) fully rested and ate breakfast with my sisters and Adam. We watched SpiderMan 3 with English subtitles. A little while later I went with Betti and Kata to the store to buy some school supplies as they start tomorrow. Rain is cold here! So yeah. I have to go to Budapest today to go to a Rotary Meeting, the immigration office, and meet my grandma who I will be staying with on Thursdays because Krisztina works in the city that day.

So yeah, it's amazing here, the food, family and scenery is amazing.

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Airport!!!

Well, Hello all. I feel like I should write something simply because I am in the San Francisco airport taking advantage of free wifi while I still have it. So yeah. These past few hours have been incredibly exciting, sad, and over just amazing you know? I'm currently sitting in the airport terminal waiting for my flight. I'm alive and well and miss you all. Well, I gotta get going. Love you all! I will write more when I get to Budapest. ♥

12 Days!

Okay so while I wait for the feeling to come back to my mouth (after 4 shots of Novacain from my lovely dentist) I feel like this is an appropriate time to tell you all about my town(s) in Hungary where I will be living for the next year...

Máriahalom:

From what I've found on the internet and from what my host brother has told me, Máriahalom is a small village with less than 700 people. It looks a lot like Ukiah except for you know, Europe. It's going to be interesting living in a town smaller than Ukiah which I already thought was tiny.

Budapest:
Budapest seems to be on the other end of the scale from Máriahalom in the sense that it is the largest city in Hungary with 1,721,556 inhabitants. I've heard it has an amazing public transportation system which I'm rather excited about simply because the public transportation in Ukiah, is so terrible I have to rely on my little Sunfire to get around town.

So yeah... cool beans. 12 days till I leave. I have nearly everything packed. I'm so excited to leave!

However, I still can't feel the left side of my face... hmmm
Brillo con la luz de promesa nunca se apagaran. ♥

A Wise Man Once Said...

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."

I'm not entirely sure who said that because I just googled quotes and that's what popped up and I can't say that I don't like it. It's totally true. Wow I really wish I could write eloquently. I feel like this blog would be more amazing that way but in any case at this very moment you are getting my exact half asleep thoughts. Go you. Speaking of half asleep thoughts driving around Ukiah half alive really wasn't one of my best ideas, then again neither was taking a nap at 6 in the evening. So yeah sorry about the tangent well no, not really because I myself am a walking tangent but whatever. On to the story. CHARGE!!! whoo. Rotary.Yes.Concentrating. Back to the quote.

This time last year I would have never expected my life to take this sort of turn. Yes, I've always wanted to be an exchange student but I guess I never realized all the amazing people who would come with it. This weekend was the last weekend I would see most of my fellow 5130 Outbounds for a year. We all met in January and really haven't spend that much time together as a group (maybe like 15 days since January?) and its like totally crazy because in those 15 ish days I've found my second family so to speak. They are people who like the quote above said, have left their mark on my life and changed it for the better. When I signed up for this I really had no idea how the months leading up to my exchange would change me. I can only imagine how this next year will flip my world. I've met so many people in the past 7 months who have made my life so incredibly amazing I can't seem to find words to describe it.

I leave in a month. Wow, I really hope I get my ticket soon/ I leave before Nikki goes off to college. Can you believe it's already August? Where does time go?

I want to fly.
♥

4 more weeks. Ish I think...

something like that anyways. I'm not sure of the exact date seeing as I don't have my ticket yet but I'm guesstimating 4 weeks. So there. Stick that in your juicebox. and feed it too a small child. Anyways... 4 weeks. wow. It seems like not that long ago I was in Ap Euro bouncing up and down wondering in sheer impatient agony where in the world I was going. Now, 31 weeks later, I'm going to Hungary. Budapest. More Hungary. I have amazing host families, and an amazing school, and an amazing outlook on the next year at least :-) Ever since the ski trip in January my life has been changed and only for the better. I have made amazing friends from all over the world, been happier than I ever thought was possible, ooh and the strange feeling of being incredibly lonely and loved at the same time after Rotary functions/hanging with Rotary people.

Yes, I'm incredibly excited and grateful and yet at the same time terrified. I think. I hate not knowing, it's terribly unnecessary and bothersome but whatever. Roll with the punches and all that jazz. But really, think about it, it's like the middle school I never had to go through. Except for they're all speaking Hungarian, but the whole scrutinizing my every move, not knowing anyone, not knowing who's who whats what etc. But whatever that's the best part. Smile and "ezt hodmonjak magyarul" everything right? (I think I misspelt the 2nd word but it makes sense in my head) so yeah.

Anxious, scared, excited thank you Rotary thank you. hahaha

Boo! Yeah, you're terrified, don't pretend like you're not. :)

♥

Okay so...

I had started a blog like 2 months ago (katieishungary.blogspot.com) but then, little miss genius over here forgot the password,email address, etc. So yeah epic fail. Anyways. In a little less that 50 something days I will be on pretty much the biggest adventure I can think of. Thats right. Rotary District 5130 is sponsoring me to go live and embrace the Hungarian Culture to its fullest in Budapest (D1911) for a year. I think it's finally started to hit me in the last couple of days. I'm crazy excited, terrified but when it comes down to it all I'm incredibly happy and maybe a few other things that the English language cannot express.

So yeah, I will be keeping this blog (for reals this time!) throughout the course of my exchange keeping you updated on anything and everything. I hope you (and I) enjoy the process.

:)